Unintended Recipient
by Ancalime8301
Summary: Spencer has a run-in with one of Holmes' experiments.


Written for the LiveJournal community Watsons_Woes for their July Writing Prompts challenge. Amnesty prompt 02 was: _Ooops! A mistake with consequences._ Also fills my hc_bingo prompt, "love spell/potion gone wrong".

Part of my Spencer-verse (primarily canon with a few details borrowed from the Granada TV series).

* * *

_Unintended Recipient_

"I hope, for your sake, that this is not what you intended to happen," I said through gritted teeth, glaring at Holmes and trying to ignore the amorous cat yowling his courtship intentions to my left shoe.

"Not at all," Holmes hurried to assure me. "His exposure to the substance was the result of my failure to cover the flask securely."

"So you made a mistake and now Spencer is trying to, what, mate with my shoe?"

"You have quite succinctly summarized the situation, yes," Holmes said evasively.

"And why, might I ask, did you have a 'substance' that could induce such behavior in a cat?"

On steadier ground now, Holmes relaxed a bit as he started speaking. "You will remember that I am pursuing a case in which young men of means abruptly abandon their lives in the pursuit of a nameless woman and are found dead three days after cutting off contact with their families. Based on evidence at the scenes, I inferred that a sort of drug was used to intoxicate the victims and draw them to the murderess. So I have been endeavoring to determine the substance used in order to determine how they were exposed."

I sighed deeply, carefully stepping out of my shoes and leaving them to Spencer's ecstatic humping. "You're telling me that you've been brewing a love potion and then left it where Spencer could get at it? Are you mad?"

"It was a miscalculation, nothing more," Holmes said defensively.

"Did he drink it or just smell it?"

"He merely smelled it. His tongue would not fit into the neck of the flask," Holmes said, showing me the bottle as evidence.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Thank goodness for small favors. What does your research say about how long the effects will last?"

Holmes looked sheepish. "The effects should last a day or two at most, but it has not yet been tested. It was still brewing when Spencer found it."

"A day or two," I repeated, watching as Spencer moved on from my shoes to the leg of the settee. Then I had an uneasy thought. "Let me guess: I was going to be your unknowing test subject."

Holmes' silence was answer enough. Fortunately for him, the bell rang; it was Inspector Lestrade, come to announce there was another body.

When Holmes hesitated at the door, looking back at me, I waved him on. "Go on. I need to stay with Spencer."

* * *

Not long after Holmes left, Spencer started spraying the drapes and I had to shut him in the bathroom before he damaged anything else. When his desperate yowling became too annoying, I gave him an old pillow to concentrate his energies on; while he was distracted, I also provided some water and food and a box of sand. Since we had no idea how long this might go on, he'd need all the necessities at hand.

Mrs. Hudson was drawn upstairs by Spencer's racket, concerned about his welfare. I told her as much as I knew, including the ruined drapes, and she pursed her lips and shook her head. Holmes would be hearing about this from her, I could well imagine, and I was happy to leave her to it. My concern was Spencer's wellbeing.

Spencer's vocalizations continued all night. I checked on him periodically, but there was nothing I could do to make it pass more quickly.

He finally exhausted himself-and, evidently, the effects of the concoction-about twelve hours after I'd come home to find him nearly out of his mind. He lay limply on the floor when I came to investigate the lack of noise, so I gently gathered him in my arms and carried him to his fireside bed. He remained there, barely moving, all day.

Holmes solved the case that day, even without testing the substance on a human. We went out for a celebratory dinner and when we we returned, Spencer was gone from his bed. A cursory search of the rooms did not find our orange tabby, so I went down to ask Mrs. Hudson.

I found her and Spencer in the kitchen; Spencer was gulping food down as if he was starving and Mrs. Hudson was watching attentively, adding more meat to his bowl when he started running low. I joined her in watching and we chatted amiably until Spencer was finished. I carefully picked him up and took him with me to the sitting room.

Though I set him on the floor near his bed, as soon as I sat in my armchair he jumped onto my lap. He sprawled there, purring contentedly, and I petted him once I'd lit my pipe. Holmes observed us from his armchair, but said nothing. "I hope you've learned to cover things more tightly," I said as I scratched Spencer's head.

"Yes, yes," Holmes said dismissively.

I knew he meant well, but when he was deep in his research, anything could happen. I would just have to be prepared when it did.


End file.
